On a day when the possibility of rain made tyre decisions a gamble, only 17 drivers brought home the car, the last being Hispania’s Karun Chandhok.

“It is disappointing to see our run of points end and not to have been able to make more of these conditions, but that’s sometimes what happens in this type of conditions,” Force India chairman Vijay Mallya said after the race.

Sutil reckoned strategy was crucial and felt things could have been slightly different but for the last pit stop which cost him a couple of extra seconds.

“It was a real strategy race this time. At times it was difficult to know which was the best tyre to be on, as it would rain and then dry and then rain again,” Sutil said.

“I lost a couple of positions in this final stop and that was what dropped me back to 13th. Although we could close to within a second of Michael (Schumacher) I just ran out of laps to get past.

“But that’s how it is, sometimes you win in this type of race and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way,” he said, rather philosophically.

Liuzzi was equally upset after a premature end to his race when he spun his Force India into Kamui Kobayashi’s BMW Sauber and Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso, bringing out the safety car.

Drivers standings after Chinese GP: Jenson Button (Bri) 60 points, 1; Nico Rosberg (Ger) 50, 2; Fernando Alonso (Esp) 49, 3; Lewis Hamilton (Bri) 49, 4; Sebastian Vettel (Ger) 45, 5; Felipe Massa (Bra) 41, 6; Robert Kubica (Pol) 40, 7; Mark Webber (Aus) 28, 8; Adrian Sutil (Ger) 10, 9; Michael Schumacher (Ger) 10, 10.